Tips for Artists

For over ten years, I have enjoyed 4 straight days of painting on the Big Sur Coast in the company of 8 other artists – we share meals, art books, and favorite sites. During these four days, I paint like a fiend as there are no other responsibilities. Staying overnight … Read More

For myself, and for many other painters, learning to express ourselves with brushes and paint is a lifelong learning process. I am convinced that the more time one spends painting, the better one’s results are, and the greater the satisfaction working at painting can be. I have found instruction in … Read More

Joining and participating in art clubs is a great way of adding a social element to the lives of painters like myself whose work is inherently a solitary activity. I not only get to enjoy socializing with great people with interests like my own, but I also get to learn … Read More

I want to offer discussion of some overlapping terms often used in describing an artist’s method of creating a painting, and which describe some of my own processes. These and other topics will be discussed in a class series providing instruction in painting which I will be teaching early in … Read More

September 2 through October 27 Visit the Pacific Grove Art Center on Lighthouse Avenue to see fine works of art from members of the Monterey Bay Plein Air Painters Association (MBPAPA.) The exhibit will open on September 2 and run through October 27. The exhibit will be in the large … Read More

Half Moon Bay’s Coastal Art League will present paintings of the Santa Cruz Oil Painters (SCOP) in oil, acrylic, and pastel. In the fall of 2001, a small group of oil painters gathered to find a way to support each other in our artistic endeavors, and formed SCOP. Today the … Read More

  I’m excited to once again be offering painting classes, my first offerings in over two years. I’m offering a 5-class series in landscape painting this spring. Classes will be held in my Soquel studio on Thursday mornings 9-12 noon, April 14, 21, 28, May 12, 19. Series price is … Read More

Join an art group or club I often take paintings to my art group. As a group, we coordinate weekly plein air locations and meet up in the locations to paint. We also have monthly “critique sessions.” To these sessions, most of us bring one or more paintings. These are … Read More

Lay down values and color quickly Painting outdoors while gazing at the scene to be captured requires the painter to lay down values and color quickly before the light changes. Mixing three values, on site, of the main color fields can help you keep color clean and have piles to … Read More

I recently read my California Art Club Newsletter containing a tribute to Richard Schmid, who passed on earlier this year. He was a great artist who mentored many of today’s traditional painters. I watched him paint a portrait from life at one of the Plein Air conventions years ago. It … Read More

[Revised Jan, 2021] It is sometimes difficult to paint large paintings plein air. After all, when we set up our easels in the out of doors, factors like uneven ground, heaviness of large canvases and wind make the large painting effort problematic. Especially wind, which can come up at any … Read More

“If there is a common theme relating to the perception of color harmony, I believe that nature holds the key.” – Michael Wilcox I continue to explore what has been written about color harmony and find ideas to share with you here on my blog.  “ Perception of color harmony … Read More

I have recently been perusing a book on color theory. It’s called Perfect Color Choices for the Artist, written by Michael Wilcox. There are many different theories about color harmony, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It appears “perfect” is a relative term. One system that I … Read More